Over one hundred and fifty years ago, a young New Yorker named Horace Blackman, a frontiersman from Ann Arbor and a Pottawattomie Indian guide, camped on the west bank of the Grand River at the intersection of what is now Jackson Street and Trail Street in the city of Jackson, Michigan. Blackman had been ‘spying out the land’ looking for a ‘location.’ Satisfied with what he saw, he purchased a quarter section and registered his one hundred and sixty acre claim. Several months later, he built himself a log cabin and then went home to collect his family, having become the founder of a future city.

…Jackson-for this is what the village would be called, after brief encounters with the names ‘Jacksonburgh’ and ‘Jacksonopolis’– had location. As the Indian trails clearly indicated, it was a cross-roads-a point through which people, ideas, information and materials going in various directions passed. Now, at a time when transportation had become a critical organizational link between the nation’s eastern populations and the frontier’s seemingly limitless resources and wealth, Jackson was in a position to benefit.

You can get much more at the link above and also check out Jackson, Michigan in Wikipedia.

4 Responses to “In the Jacksonburg Public Square … History of Jackson, Michigan”

I am in search of pictures from a long time ago of a building in downtown jackson, michigan @ the address of 159 w. michigan. it was lerner certer, and it was a retail store, i do not know a ton about it, but, i am in need of pictures of the inside/outside/ and any/all pictures i can find, if this is something you can assist me in, i would greatly appreciate it. Thanks,and have a blessed day. Andrea

You will see the Lerners store pictured in the Jackson Citizen Patriot article A Peek Through Time , titled “Stillman’s offered Jackson shoppers a variety of goods at reasonable prices” published on January 29, 2011. If you type that into Google you should find it. Lerners is between the City Hall and Stillmans.

I am looking for a photograph of the Gage Grocery which occupied the same spot as the Michigan Theatre in downtown Jackson. The grocery store was in existance until the late 20s when the people who built the theatre bought it from my great grandmother. Any information would be very much appreciated.

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